"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
NEXT STEP: Hydroponic Strengths
OK, this is a NEXTSTEP post inspired by, Robin Ahren Kerber’s blog post, and building on posts by Crystal Bellar, plus the musings of my future self.
So, as Robin got me thinking, what are my strengths? What can I bring to EVOKE to add some real value? Here’s what I came up with:
· Product development experience (my job)
· Scientific / technical background (Ph.D in Chemistry)
· Some farming knowledge (I grew up on a farm)
· Virtual worlds experience (I’ve tried out various worlds and can build stuff in Second Life)
· Creative problem solving experience (through work, trained by ?WhatIf!)
I’ve been loosely taking part in some threads relating to urban farming, which appeals to me in a futuristic science fictiony sort of way (oh wait – there’s another strength that may be handy – Science Fiction addict – I read loads of science fiction – always a great place for ideas!). Anyway, linking all this together, and thinking about the context here of Tokyo and the potential need for ideas that can be useful in low-tech or post-disaster urban or rural environments, here’s what I came up with:
OBJECTIVE: To explore ideas for producing an ultra-low-cost hydroponics starter kit
BACKGROUND: Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants in non-soil, mineral-rich media. Hydroponics are already used around the world for food production and have some significant advantages over other traditional food production methods such as; greater yields (e.g. rice yields are quoted as being 12x higher vs traditional methods), lower water costs and lower environmental impact ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroponics ). If it was cheap and easy to do, individual households, especially in high density urban environments, could start supplementing their diets with home-grown produce. If they were also taught the basics, they could then scale up production if they wanted to, potentially producing excess which could then be sold or bartered for other things. Also, if different plants were grown by different people, a community could work together to ensure a balanced diet was achieved across the community.
SCOPE/CONSTRAINTS:
· Ideas/solutions should aim to use as much locally available material/resources as possible
· Solutions must be as cheap as possible
· Should be easily portable to make them easy to use and easy to distribute
· Should be low-tech / as simple as possible
· Should focus on growing nutritionally valuable plants which are, ideally, quick to mature
· Should aim to educate and enable users to scale-up or repeat, ideally without the need for a further kit
VISION OF SUCCESS: A number of different ideas for ultra-low-cost hydroponics starter kits that can then be further refined, prioritised, prototyped and developed.
(knew I’d get some use out of virtual world prototyping!)
NEXT STEPS: (this is where you come in)
· If you can add any relevant local knowledge or insights (e.g. first hand experience of existing urban food production methods), that would be really appreciated – I’m working from a quite limited understanding of the reality of doing something like this, so any insights would be very useful in refining the scope of this brief. (If you post them in a blog and link to and from this post, I can also give you a +1 for Local Insight!)
· Immerse yourself in the world of hydroponics and urban-farming via other EVOKE posts, the internet, books, experts etc, then post an idea or ideas – tag them HydroponicsStarterKit and add a link in your post(s) back to this page. Try and add as much depth and detail as possible to your ideas.
· If there are any hydroponics experts out there, please jump in with any builds!
Views: 143
-
Comment by Alchemy on March 10, 2010 at 12:26am
-
Your approach to the challenge is admirable, and your proposed solution is inspiring, Agent Stovell. I am awarding you +10 Entrepreneurship, and +10 Vision. Well done.
-
Comment by Crystal Bellar on March 10, 2010 at 12:32am
-
I've been pondering this. My concern was where this would be needed most typically has a rather poor water supply. And I was trying to figure out if unfiltered ground/river water that is probably pretty polluted would be a stuible base for hydroponic water.
in another note:
Also, I was thinking about water delivery via a plastic bottle gutter system (essentially taking used plastic bottles and making a tiny auqaduct by using the top end to poor into the bottom end of the next bottle on a slight incline.
I don't know much about hydropnics (I was going to do a post...readup on it eventually) but the idea is very important! Hydroponics are easier to maintain and also have so many uses :D
-
Comment by Alex Stovell on March 10, 2010 at 6:28am
-
Thanks for all the comments :) I'm planning to look into this a lot further and post some specific ideas (hopefully others will too). Also need to dig around and see what's been done before/already - no sense re-inventing the wheel. I'm currently seeing the 'kit' as being quite small and simple - maybe just the parts that are hard to source locally plus simple, easy to follow instructions & education (pictograms too to make it more universal and to avoid the need for lots of different language versions maybe?). I'm assuming plastic bottles and bags will feature as locally sourced parts.
-
Comment by Mew on March 19, 2010 at 9:23pm
-
When I imagine a 'kit', I imagine that there would be some assembly required. And since it is a starter kit, perhaps it could be a small setup for just a single plant? If it is that small, the starter kit would be really cheap, and then the recipient could replicate it as needed. There could be instructions in the kit on how to make one using the same concepts, but for more plants at a time.
The 'Instructables' website has many tutorials of varying quality that you might be able to use as jumping off points/inspiration for your own kits, since many of them use cheap locally sourced materials.
Here are a few interesting ones:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Single-plant-Hydroponics-easy/
This shows how to make a simple, single-plant hydro system out of a tennis ball tube, I imagine it could be done with a pop bottle or something similar.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-super-easy-hydroponics-system/ Another single (small) plant system using a spice container.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Almost_Free_DIY_Simple_Hydroponics/ An 'almost free' multi-plant system using a styrofoam box and a garbage bag.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydroponics---at-Home-and-for-Begin... This is a multi plant system that is a bit more sturdy, but cost the user $30. Not sure if that qualifies as too expensive, it would be for some people. Also it uses an aquarium pump, which isn't exactly 'low tech' or easy to come by in rural areas.
These ideas could be tested, and perhaps melded together for an optimal solution.
And also, the instructions - how to build, find parts, and harvest and maintain - should be super clear and easy to understand across cultures and perhaps even for illiterate people. There is no point in having a system that people can't figure out how to use on their own once you leave. :)
-
-
Hey Mew, thanks for the great comments and links! - this is just the sort of thing I need to make some progress!
-
-
No problem, Alex. Glad to be of service. I really want to try making one of those projects for myself anyhow. Looking at aquarium air pumps currently, but if I actually finish one of these I'll let you know how it goes. I'll probably make the tennis-ball-tube one.
Also, I'm a design student, currently taking an information design class. I may be able to help with designing instructions once the project gets that far. :)
Comment
Latest Activity
Fourth of July on the Lake
This past weekend was the annual celebration at the lake house in Connecticut. It is amazing that the lake is still so clear and beautiful after all these years. The watershed association has done a wonderful job protecting these waters from the damaging effects of development.The wood grill was finally ready to cook on, so we didn't miss the propane tank fueled grill anymore. The food actually tasted fresher than in the past and was easy to keep fueled.Dad was very proud of the solar hybrid…See More
Stinging Nettle
In this blog post I will focus on a plant that is abundant in our nature, and which is immensely nutritious. It's of course the Stinging Nettle. Let's start with the chemical constituents of this plant:37 % Non-Nitrogen-Extracts19 - 29 % Ash9 - 21 % Fiber4 % Fat22 % ProteinOnce the leaves are drid, their protein content can reach an astounding 40 %, which is much higher than beef, which even under the best of circ**stances can never exceed 31 % protein. In addition the Stinging Nettle consists…See More
The meal
It is 7'oclock, I was late home from work due to an assignment that i wanted to get ahead on. By the time I get home I am feeling extremley tired and I cannot be bothered to make a proper meal. I walk to the fridge and open it to see what there is for me to eat. All of the out of date foodstuffs have been automaticaly thrown away by the fridge, they will be recycled tomorrow as animal feed or something. I see i have organic local eggs and some local cheese. Foods are vacc** sealded for easy…See More
Future
FutureToday is 2020/1/1. It is just like yesterday. The war is still continuing. It has started since 2010. In 2010, that year was a horrible year. Almost every energy ran out. Every country’s governments were crushed down at the same time. There were riots everywhere. All of the big company’s bosses were killed xdeadx in the riots. Troops fought each other everywhere. Food was bought up xawayx at once. There were no more food supplies in any shops. The economy was all crushed down. All the…See More
public servants
The exchange works directly for state and public workers and servants. It gives them credit in exchange for the amount of public work they contribute to the community. The more constructive they are based off a base rate the more credit they recieve.
© 2024 Created by Alchemy.
Powered by
You need to be a member of Urgent Evoke to add comments!
Join Urgent Evoke